Remote control for interacting with smart home IoT devices and web services

Abstract

An apparatus, method, and system for triggering user configured Internet requests, with custom parameters, to 3rd party devices or APIs from a configurable hardware remote control device. The apparatus consists of a processor, radio wave communication system, graphical display, memory, a user interface and one or more batteries. In some embodiments, the interface may consist of a rotary knob and one or more buttons, or using directional arrows. This device allows browsing a list of configured routines, executing them, triggering network requests that perform 3rd party actions. In some embodiments, when configuring the Device via the External Configuration Application, parameters can be set for the routine, which will be entered or selected via the device prior to triggering the request. In some embodiments, the device can be set up to trigger http or https requests, where the querystring parameters, request method, and body content are configurable.

I claim: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 receiving routine configuration data from an external configuration application comprising data for making a call to a web API including a network URL for at least one routine, the routine configuration data being selected to create one or more custom parameters, wherein the routine configuration data comprises a name for each parameter, a data type for each parameter, the allowed values for each parameter; and/or querystring parameters and/or request body content that can include placeholder variables to indicate where the values from the custom parameters will later be included; 
 transmitting to a remote control device the at least one routine and the custom parameters associated with each routine; 
 receiving a selection of the at least one routine from the remote control device and prompting for values to be entered for the parameters associated with the selected routine; and 
 after receiving the entered values, triggering an HTTP or HTTPS network request to the network URL with the values of the provided parameters inserted where the placeholder variables previously were within the querystring parameters and/or the request body content during the configuration step. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 when the one or more request is executed, sending the one or more request to a 3rd party device or service or the API of a local area network hub, and bypassing a central API server, in order to allow the endpoint to not need to be accessible from outside of the local area network. 
 
     
     
       3. A method comprising:
 receiving routine configuration data of a routine from an external configuration application comprising data required for triggering an action on a 3 rd  party device or service, the routine configuration data including information about one or more custom parameters comprising a name, a data type, and allowed values; 
 associating the one or more custom parameters with one or more available options for the 3 rd  party device or service; 
 transmitting to a remote control device routine data comprising data of the routine and the one or more custom parameters associated with the routine; 
 receiving a selection of the routine on the remote control device; and 
 prompting for values to be entered for the parameters associated with the selected routine, which after being provided by the user, will execute the routine to trigger a network request for the routine, including the provided parameter values, which will then be used to execute the associated action on the 3 rd  party device or service using the values of these custom parameters to specify the behavior of the 3 rd  party device or service. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 when the selected routine is executed, sending a web request first to a central API server, which will then notify other 3rd party services of the event. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 when the selected routine is executed, sending the request to a 3rd party device or service or API of local area network hub, bypassing a central API server. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 tracking a time, frequency, and associated data of the execution of the selected routine to obtain historical usage data; and 
 based on the tracked information, predicting a routine that is likely to be selected based on the historical usage data and auto-selecting and/or auto-sorting routines. 
 
     
     
       7. An apparatus for triggering user configured Internet requests to 3 rd  party devices or services from a configurable hardware remote control device, with custom user defined parameters, where the entire system comprises of:
 a hardware remote control device, with at least one processor, at least one radio wave based communication system, a graphical display, user interface for navigating routines and their parameters, memory to store routine data, and at least one battery as a primary source of power to the electronics, so as to be typically portable without wires; 
 software running on the remote control device, where the primary function is to select and trigger the user's preconfigured routines with their custom parameters, where this functionality is available by default without the user having to install 3 rd  apps, and which allows a user to select a routine, and then to enter values for the routine's user configured parameters, as defined by the user for each routine, which when triggered will make a network request with the selected routine data and parameters, where a 3rd party device or web service associated with that routine will perform an action with the supplied parameters; 
 an external configuration application, to be run from an external computer or mobile or tablet device, which will allow the each user to configure the routines, including creating a name for each routine, and each routines' optional parameters as defined by the user, with user entered parameter name and user selected data types and allowed values, and where the user can connect the routine to an available 3rd party device or web service to be triggered when the routine executes; and 
 at least one central API server, which will store data on which devices belonging to each user, and allow users via the external configuration application to add/edit/remove routines and parameters for each device, and which will then load those routines and parameters onto the remote control device, which can then be executed by the remote control device to trigger the 3rd party device or web service. 
 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein, when a routine is executed, the remote control device is configured to send a web request first to the Central API Server, which will then notify other 3rd party device or services of the event, so that the 3rd party device or service can perform actions following the trigger event, including but not limited to calling 3rd party web services, controlling Internet-of-things smart home devices or making requests to web APIs. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein, when a routine is executed, the remote control device is configured to send to the 3rd party device or services or the API of a local area network hub, whether that be directly from the device or via a separate local hub device, bypassing the Central API Server. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the remote control device further comprises a user interface configured to allow users to scroll through loaded routines and routine parameters displayed on the graphical display via a rotatable knob or wheel,
 wherein the knob or wheel may physically rotate or comprise a capacitive touch sensor to sense a position of the users touch. 
 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the remote control device further comprises a user interface that is configured to allow users to scroll through loaded programs and routine parameters displayed on the graphical display via directional arrows. 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the remote control device further comprises a user interface that is configured to allow users to scroll through loaded programs and routine parameters displayed on the graphical display via a touch screen display,
 wherein the buttons or controls are represented on the display screen itself. 
 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the remote control device is configured to track a time and a frequency and associated with routine execution to obtain historical usage data, and the remote control device is configured to, when the device is activated, predict a routine that the user is most likely to want to trigger based on the historical usage data, and auto-select and/or auto-sort routines based on the same. 
     
     
       14. An apparatus for triggering user configured http/https requests to 3rd party API from a configurable hardware remote control device, where the request data provided by the user while configuring a routine includes the request method, a user provided destination url for the 3rd party API, optional query string parameters, and an optional content body payload, where the parameters can be entered or selected on the device before triggering on the routine, where the entire system comprises:
 a hardware remote control device, with at least one processor, at least one radio wave based communication system, a graphical display, user interface for navigating routines and their parameters, memory to store routine data, and at least one battery to power to the electronics, so as to be typically portable without wires; 
 software running on the apparatus, where the primary function is to select and trigger the user's preconfigured routines with their custom parameters, where this functionality is available by default without the user having to install 3 rd  apps, to optionally enter values for to be included in each routine's user configured query string or body content values, which when triggered will make a network request to the routine's specified URL, with any optional user provided query string parameters and/or body content, where a 3rd party API can then perform some action based on that triggering event and the query string and/or body content data; 
 an external configuration application configured to be run from an external computer or mobile or tablet device, which will allow a user to configure the routines, including creating a name for each routine, specifying their destination URLs, and each routines' optional query string parameters and/or body content, to be loaded onto the user's remote control devices. 
 
     
     
       15. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the remote control device is configured to, when a routine is executed, send a request to the 3rd party services or to the API of a local area network hub, bypassing the central API server, in order to allow the endpoint to not need to be accessible from outside of the local area network. 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the remote control device comprises a user interface that allows users to scroll through loaded routines and routine parameters displayed on the graphical display via a rotatable knob or wheel,
 where the knob or wheel may physically rotate or have a capacitive touch sensor in order to sense a position of the user's touch. 
 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the remote control device comprises a user interface that allows users to scroll through loaded programs and routine parameters displayed on the graphical display via directional arrows. 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the remote control device comprises a user interface that allows users to scroll through loaded programs and routine parameters displayed on the graphical display via a touch screen display,
 wherein the buttons or controls are represented on the display screen itself. 
 
     
     
       19. The apparatus  claim 14 , wherein the remote control device is configured to track a time and, a frequency, and associated data of routine execution to obtain historical usage data, and
 upon activation, the remote control device is configured to predict a desired routine based on the historical usage data, and auto-select and/or auto-sort routines based on the same. 
 
     
     
       20. An apparatus for triggering user configured Internet requests to 3rd party web services or APIs with parameters, acting as a remote control device, the apparatus comprising:
 a hardware remote control device, with at least one processor, at least one radio wave based communication system, a graphical display, memory to store routine data, and at least one as a primary source of power to the electronics, so as to be typically portable without; 
 a hardware user interface, consisting of at least one rotary knob or wheel, and one or more buttons, where the knob or wheel may physically rotate or including a capacitive touch sensor, sensing the position of the users touch, which is used for navigating routines and their parameters; 
 software running on the apparatus, where the primary function is to select and trigger the user's preconfigured routines with their custom parameters, where this functionality comes available to be configured without requiring the installation of additional 3 rd  party applications, where those routines are first browsed with the rotary knob or wheel, allowing the user to select from one of their saved routines, and to enter values for the routine's user configured parameters with the rotary knob or wheel, which when triggered will make a network request with the selected routine data and any parameters for that routine, where a 3rd party web service associated with that routine during the user's configuration will perform an action with the supplied parameters. 
 
     
     
       21. The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the remote control device is configured to track a time, frequency, and associated data of routine execution to obtain historical usage data, and upon activation, predict a desired routine based on the historical usage data, and auto-select and/or auto-sort routines. 
     
     
       22. An apparatus for triggering user configured Internet requests to 3rd party web services or APIs with parameters, acting as a remote control device, which comprises of:
 a hardware remote control device, with at least one processor, at least one radio wave based communication system, a graphical display, memory to store routine data, and at least one battery as a primary source of power to the electronics, so as to be typically portable without wires; 
 a hardware user interface, comprising at least four directional arrow buttons, for navigating routines and their parameters; 
 software running on the apparatus, where the primary function is to select and trigger the user's preconfigured routines with their custom parameters, where this functionality comes available to be configured without requiring the installation of additional 3 rd  party applications, where those routines are first browsed with opposing arrows, allowing the user to select from one of their saved routines, and to enter values for the routine's user configured parameters with the arrows, which when triggered will make a network request with the selected routine data and any parameters for that routine, where a 3rd party web service associated with that routine during the user's configuration will perform an action with the supplied parameters. 
 
     
     
       23. The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the remote control device is configured to track a time, frequency, and associated data of routine execution to obtain historical usage data, and predict a desired routine based on the historical usage data, and auto-select and/or auto-sort routines based on the same.